


No Grave

by Gylfie109



Series: Lost In The Ebb And Flow Of The Tide [5]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Boy have I got bad news for you, Dad!Roger, Family, Found Family, No beta we die like Whitebeard, Original Akuma no Mi | Devil Fruit, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Parental Gol D Roger, Reincarnation, Tall proud and possibly regretting not saying that one last thing, Well it exists now soooo, does this count as angst???, if you’re here for parental Rayleigh, oh well, shits gonna go down in the future, voice of all things is uhhhh......
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-17
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:41:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 9,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28126281
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gylfie109/pseuds/Gylfie109
Summary: Looking back, it was probably very obvious that the universe wouldn’t let us go that easily. But now that I’m here, I might as well make the best of it and fix what I can.
Relationships: Akagami no Shanks & original character(s), Akagami no Shanks | Red-Haired Shanks & Buggy & Original Character(s), Buggy & original character(s), Gol D. Roger & Original Character(s), Red haired Shanks & original character(s)
Series: Lost In The Ebb And Flow Of The Tide [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1713016
Comments: 3
Kudos: 16





	1. Chapter 1

Waking up again hurt, which was to be expected seeing as I should have been dead, and had sacrificed my immortality to save the world. So waking up was highly unexpected, and even more so the fact that I am once again a baby. But, if I am here….

I managed to look around, struggling to lift my head. I made eye contact with another baby. This baby had a shock of bright red hair and the brightest blue eyes I have ever seen. But more importantly, they were  _ familiar. _ That was Damien, Hisoka, whatever the fuck his name is this time around. My little brother, and presumably my twin this time.

His face lit up and he reached a chubby hand out towards me. I giggled and reached out to hold his hand.

I closed my eyes and went back to sleep. As long as my brother is here by my side, I don’t care where we ended up.

The next time I woke up, it was in someone’s arms. My baby vision made it so I couldn’t quite make out the details of this person's face, but I could see a large curling moustache that seemed familiar.

“What’s her name?” The man’s voice rumbled in his chest.

“We decided on Solaris for her, and Sterling for him.” A much softer voice replied.

Solaris is a good name, I like it.

“Swann D. Solaris and Sterling. Such strong names for my godchildren!” He laughed, a booming laugh that sent shivers down my spine. I recognize that laugh.

I reached up and grabbed his moustache.

“Solaris, you sure do have a strong grip for such a little lady, don’t you?” He smiled a D shaped grin, and my stomach dropped even as I kept smiling and giggling.

My godfather is Gol D Roger, the future king of the pirates, and who’s kid would be hunted even before he was born. If someone found out our connection to the man, we would be killed without hesitation.

_ Shit. _

How unfair is life, to saddle us with family members who we know are going to die no matter what we do.

At least Roger looks much younger than when he gets executed, so we’ll get some time with him.

I yawned and released his moustache.

“Do you guys know what these markings are?” He gently ran a finger over my face, tracing a pattern that I’d recognize anywhere.

“No idea. Both of them were born with them. Rivers asked around to see if it came from the fishman side of his family, but no such luck. It seems like it’s just come out of nowhere.” 

Fishman huh? Does that mean I’m gonna have some sickass shark teeth when I get older? Sweet…

“I’m sure it’s fine Raine. They’re both strong and healthy babies. Don’t worry so much!” Roger laughed, jolting me out of the tentative grasp of sleep that I had started to fall into. I glared at the man and attempted to slap my hand over his mouth.

“Oh dear. Let’s get you to bed, darling. I’ll take her now, Roger.” A pretty blonde woman with blue eyes and tanned skin picked me up out of Roger’s giant ass arms and put me in a large crib beside Sterling.

Now that I was actually looking, I could see faint white markings on his skin. I smiled.

Jashin’s blessing followed us even across universes.


	2. Chapter 2

We didn’t really speak for the first two years of our new lives. I knew Sterling like the back of my hand, and he knew me the same way. We had no need for words.

Our parents were worried, but the doctors said that there was nothing wrong with us. Which there wasn’t, we just didn’t want to talk. Though, I was starting to feel guilty about worrying them.

My ‘first’ word was as much a surprise to me as it was to our parents. I was eating my cereal and accidentally knocked a cup of juice to the ground when-

“Motherfucker.” That happened.

“No swearing.” Sterling slapped my hand.

Mom and Dad stared at us in shock. The next room over, something broke and a loud shout echoed through the house.

“ _ MotherFUCKER _ !” Roger yelled.

_ Oops. _

Sorry Roger.

“ROGER! YOU TAUGHT MY KID HOW TO SWEAR?!” Dad hollered and got out of his seat, marching into the other room.

“Sol, honey. That’s a bad word. Please don’t say it again unless someone is being mean to you or they deserve it.” Mom smiled sweetly at me. I nodded and went back to eating my cereal.

Our household became a lot more lively after that. Roger came by once every two months, and always came back with amazing tales of the Grand Line and silly stories about his crew. It was always the highlight of my day. 

We started training again, in ways that were easy for children of our size to do without being obvious to the adults. Stretches in the morning and before bed, yoga with Mom, play fighting and stick fights, and building ‘houses’ in the backyard to help build muscles.

And then one day, Dad came home in a panic.

We were 7 at the time, and Dad barged into our room and started packing our bags.

“Dad what’s going on? What’s wrong?” I tugged on his shirt as he threw our clothes into a backpack.

“Sorry Sol, Sterling. You guys are going to go stay with Uncle Roger for a bit. Some bad people were seen near here, and I don’t want you guys to get hurt.” He smiled at me, jagged teeth and all.

“But what about Mom? The doctors said that she should stay in bed for another week before she’s allowed to walk.” Sterling asked.

“I’ll be staying here with her, and then we’ll both be there to greet you when you guys come back.” I narrowed my eyes and shared a glance with Sterling. The only ‘bad people’ that would get Dad this shaken up would be Celestial Dragons or slavers, but we’re not supposed to know about them.

I went back to making a card for Mom. I finished it up and tiptoed into her bedroom. I put the card on her pillow and ran back to our bedroom.

Dad picked Sterling up and ushered me back out. Everything in my body is screaming at me that something is wrong, that this is going to be my Tragic BackstoryTM if I don’t stop, but there’s nothing I can do as a tiny 7 year old.

Dad ended up dragging us to the docks on the other side of the island. I could see Roger standing there with another man that I recognize to be a  _ much _ younger Rayleigh.

“Roger!” I dropped my Dad’s hand and ran at my godfather, launching myself into his arms.

“Hey kiddos! I missed you too. What’ve you been doing since the last time I visited?” He picked up Sterling who finally managed to wiggle free of Dad's grip.

“Mom broke her leg.”Sterling said, and Roger started sweating.

“Is she okay?”

“Yup!” I smiled, popping the p. Roger let out a sigh of relief.

“We built another fort. I think you’d be able to fit in it this time.” Sterling said with the most serious look I have ever seen on a 7 year old child.

“Really? We’ll have to test that out later!” Roger laughed. I peeked over his shoulder to look at a very confused Rayleigh.

“Who are you?” I asked. He looked at me before smiling.

“I’m Silvers Rayleigh, and you are?”

“I’m Solaris, and my brother is Sterling.” Sterling kicked me.

“I can introduce myself, idiot.” He growled, and I stuck my tongue out at him.

“Alright, let’s get you two on the ship before someone gets hurt. Say your goodbyes and we can get going.” I dropped out of Roger’s arms and hugged Dad’s legs.

“Bye Dad. I love you.”

“Love you too, squirt. I’ll see you later.” He ruffled my hair. Sterling just waved. I skipped back to Roger, wrapping my tiny hand around his pinky finger.

He walked us up the gangplank, where we were met with the entire crew eyeing us without actually looking at us. It was really uncomfortable because I could tell they had questions but I’m also incapable of starting conversations with strangers.

“ _ They’re staring at us.”  _ Sterling stage whispered as Roger put him down.

“Go play with Sol, Sterling. Alright, back to work!” I grabbed Sterling’s hand and rocketed off to scout the ship. We giggled as we ducked ducked around the crew and into the hallways. We found the kitchen, and immediately decided that that was our new base of operations. 

Sterling and Iended up squeezing into the pantry, and snickering into our palms as people yelled and fell over due to being unbalanced. I turned to my brother and started using Uzushio sign language.

_ ‘Do you think they’ll find us? _ ’ I asked.

‘ _ Probably, but not right away. Do you think they think we’re Roger’s kids?’  _

‘ _ That’d be funny. How do you think dad would react to that?’ _

_ ‘I don’t know. But I think we should do our best to make the most of our time here.’  _ He got an evil look in his eyes, and a sly grin crept onto my face.

‘ _ You’re a little shit disturber, aren’t you? I like it.’  _ I snickered and curled up even further into a ball, making room for Sterling to shift and grab whatever food he could reach. He handed me a pear, which…. that’s probably not a good place to store fruit when the crew is as busy as this one and won’t be able to move them before they go bad…. oh well.

After rubbing my hands all over to check for soft spots, I sunk my teeth into the fruit, only to hear an audible snap. I pulled away and looked at my pear, which now had a tiny white tooth poking out of it. I ran my tongue over my gums and found that there was already a new **_sharp_** tooth growing in its place.

“A tooth!” I gasped as I picked it out of the fruit and held it out to Sterling.

“Ouch. Are you gonna show Roger?” I scoffed.

“Of course.I know that the tooth fairy isn’t real, but I still want money for my tooth. I’m a good actor, we’ve gotten this far haven’t we?” Sterling nodded like I just said some great words of wisdom. I slipped the tooth into my pocket and tried eating again. This time I didn’t lose a tooth. I finished up my snack and crawled out of the pantry.

There was no one around, so we took off our shoes to help muffle our steps as we snuck around.

Somehow, against all odds, we managed to climb up into the crows nest without getting spotted. We sat down as we enjoyed the feeling of being up so high and unrestrained. The only thing that was missing was the warm fur or soft feathers under my hands.

I took out a recreation of ‘The Tale Of The Utterly Gutsy Shinobi’ and quietly read it aloud to Sterling.

Soon enough we had both fallen asleep curled up with one another.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shorter chapter today, with some heavy themes. Nothing too graphic, but child death is mentioned.

Our first few days on The Burning Rose were spent in relative peace. I was slightly disappointed to find out that the Oro Jackson was not yet built, but it makes sense. At least I would get to see it in the future.

I was very shocked when, one day as I was drawing on the deck, I was scooped up by someone who I very much did not recognize. A knife, a butter knife compared to the dagger I once wielded, was pressed to the side of my neck. Honestly, I would have reacted much more had this exact situation not happened multiple times in the past. So instead of panicking, I went completely boneless and pretended to be a rag doll.

“Give us all of your treasure or the brat gets it!” The dumbass yelled, drawing attention to himself. 

Not a great idea, pissing off the  _ goddamn  _ Roger Pirates. Perhaps he was an idiot and didn’t recognize our jolly roger. 

However, before anyone could react, Sterling was sinking his new set of shark teeth bone deep into the man's shin and ripped the chunk out, spitting blood and flesh away as if it was something he did every day.

“PUT MY TWIN DOWN YOU FAT LARD ARSED BABOON!” Sterling snarled and rammed his forehead into the idiots knee, knocking him off his feet and loosening his grip on me, allowing me to slip free.

And then he kicked my brother in the head and I saw  **_Red._ **

“YOU.BULLHEADED.MOTHER.FUCKER! DON’T. TOUCH.MY.BROTHER!” I howled as I stomped on his face.

“Sol-chan. Sol-chan it’s okay now. It’s okay, Sterling is okay.” Someone picked me up and held me tightly as they muttered reassurances into my ear, even as I flailed and kicked and scratched at them.

Suddenly, without warning whatsoever, it felt like some important part of my soul was ripped from me and torn to shreds before my very eyes. I stilled and a strange, foreboding sense of calm washed over me.

As soon as it came, it was gone just as fast and I started wailing and screaming in pain. My chest grew tight and cold, and then it disappeared in an eruption of uncomfortable heat and I was dropped, landing roughly on the floor. Whoever was holding me collapsed , and thuds came from all around as crew mates fainted.

My eyes stayed locked on the horizon, where my home laid, as silent tears streamed down my face and I felt the lives of my family and friends and neighbours slowly and steadily be snuffed out until the only lights I could feel were disgusting wretched things that reeked of sickening joy and greed.

“Solaris,talk to me. Look at me please. Tell me what’s wrong.” Roger pleaded as he knelt beside me and took my trembling hands in his.

“You didn’t feel it, or else you wouldn’t be asking that.” I laughed, devoid of humour and strained.

I could feel the confusion, and then the dawning realization as he connected the dots and realized that I had awakened observation haki.

“What did you feel, Solaris?” He asked gently, rubbing his thumbs over the backs of my hands.

“I felt them die. Every last one from newborn to elder. There’s no one left, not…. Not even Daddy.” I whimpered pitifully. Roger sucked in a breath, and I could feel the horror settle in his bones, followed quickly by grief. He pulled me and Sterling into his lap and held us close.

Sterling’s entire body shook with the force of his muffled sobs, and my hair was definitely damp.

_ “Please don’t leave us.”  _ Sterling whispered.

“Never. You’re going to stay where I can protect you and can learn to protect yourselves.” Roger swore to us.

For this first time in a long time, I allowed myself to grieve.


	4. Chapter 4

In the next year, we worked our asses off and pulled our weight plus some and no one could argue that we hadn’t earned our place in the crew, not that anyone would. Roger had adopted us, we were practically his kids. No one could say a thing even if they wanted to.

Sterling started experimenting with haki, and managed to do something most would assume was impossible. He managed to heal with haki, exactly the same way he used to be able to do with chakra.

I however took to practicing keeping my Conqueror's haki under control and using Armament haki. Surprisingly, Armament haki took a whole new appearance with me, as it mimicked the markings gifted to me by my god.

So when we found a seemingly deserted island, we rightfully assumed that we would be able to handle anything the island threw at us. And we were right. As we were in the South Blue and  not  the Grand Line, we were able to thrash the small time bandits that attempted to ambush us.

As we searched the dead bodies, I found an absolutely gorgeous black boater hat with a golden sun painted on the front. I smiled happily as I put it on my head and went to show Roger and Sterling.

Only I couldn’t find them.

“Scopper? Where did Captain and Sterling wander off to?” I asked, and he paused to look at me.

“Cool hat. I believe Captain said something about scavenging for rations, and then he ran off. Your brother went after him.” Scopper pointed off into the forest, and I nodded before going in that direction.

I had only walked for about 10 minutes before I found Roger, passed out and draped over the corpse of a giant alligator. I sighed and pulled his hat over his face to prevent him from getting a rather inconvenient and irritating sunburn.

I continued on my way and eventually found Sterling, picking fruit. He yelped when he dropped one and it landed on his foot before rolling under a bush.

“I’ll get it!” I called as I rushed over to the bush and crawled under. And while I did find the apple, I also found a grapefruit sized peach with dark purple-pink swirls, and a fruit startlingly close to the Mera Mera no Mi in everything but colour, which was a rather unappealing puke green colour. I grabbed all three and backed out of the bush. Sterling looked and promptly fell over, saving his basket at the last second.

“Are those Devil Fruit?!” He hissed, grabbing the green fruit from my hand.

“What the hell? Why is it puke green?” He asked, looking at it in dissatisfaction.

“I have no idea, but I don’t want it if it’s a puke paramecia.” I glared at the fruit, holding the one in my hands closer to my chest.

Sterling let out an indignant screech and punched me in the face, and my neck made an audible snap. My head sagged to the side and we both stared at each other.

“While this is certainly fun to know and all, but please fix it.” I said after a moment, and Sterling wheezed.

Eventually, he grabbed my head and put it back where it was supposed to be, placing a hand on the back of my neck and flooding the area with haki, rebuilding the bones and spinal cord. I rolled my neck and shoulders after to test it, deeming it good, and stalked away. I went straight to where Roger was, still sound asleep. I plopped myself down on his chest.

I popped the bubble coming out of his nose and he sputtered awake. He slipped his hat off of his face and looked at me.

“What’s up Sol-chan?” He smiled at me.

“We found devil fruit, Sterling has the other one.” I said, holding out the peach for him to see.

His eyes widened and his jaw dropped before his ever present smile grew impossibly wider. He threw an arm around me, pinning me to his chest as he stood up and threw the alligator over his shoulder.

Sterling ended up getting scooped up as well as Roger ran the completely opposite way from where we needed to head. When we finally made it back to the ship, Roger dropped the alligator and held us out like we were baby Simba.

“MY KIDS ARE SO COOL AND SMART!” Roger yelled, sniffling.

“We know, Capta- Are those Devil Fruit?” Seagull reached out to touch mine, so I bared my teeth and kicked at him.

“Get your own devil fruit, fucko. This one is MINE!” I snarled, holding it closer, and sunk my teeth into it without hesitation. I swallowed the small chunk despite the urge to spit it out. 

All in all, it wasn’t as bad as eating a Zetsu.

Sterling gagged on his fruit, but managed to keep it down. And unlike with me, it was almost immediately evident just what powers he had gotten. Because he turned into wood for a split second before snapping back to normal.

My powers became much more obvious when someone implied that I might have found a dud, and instinctively spat a glob of purple at the person, hissing indignantly. 

Thank Jashin that I didn’t actually hit the man.

I started cackling once I realized just what I had gotten. Roger dropped me when I shifted into a giant ass funnel web spider. Laughter as a spider is incredibly unnerving, and absolutely amazing.

Someone shrieked as I ran past them, so I shifted back to normal.

“Oh god, why did the evil one get one of the creepiest devil fruit powers out there?!” Yamon whined as I ran back to Roger. I made sure to kick him in the shin as I passed him.

Roger kept a close eye on us as we experimented with what we could do with our new abilities, occasionally bragging to the crew about how proud he was.

And that was that. Despite the new changes, our lifestyle was relatively unchanged. Sure, we got bounties and had to be careful in and around the water now, but we had our crew at our backs.

It would be around 5 years before anything changed, and it would come in the form of two scrawny 8 year olds.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for child abuse and attempted murder of a child. Also regular murder.

We had stopped off at a tiny seaside town to restock and rest. I split off from the group and worked on improving the time I could use observation haki without getting a headache.

I had stopped to grab something to eat and drink when I felt it. The pang of terror went straight to my heart, so I quickly paid for my sandwich and coffee before hurrying out the door, intent on helping whoever was so terrified that they were unconsciously reaching out for help like this.

I turned down an alleyway and froze when I saw two full grown men standing over the curled up, broken and shivering form of a tiny child with blue hair and a bright red nose.

Buggy.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” I snarled, stalking towards the two.

“It’s just a worthless brat, what do you care what happens to it?” The larger one of the pair mocks. I shoved past them, removing my hat and putting it on the poor kids head, pushing it over his eyes.

“Close your eyes kid, and don’t open them until I tell you it’s safe. This isn’t going to be pretty.” I said in a low voice.

“What can a weak woman like you do against two big strong men like us?” The other one scoffed at me, looking down at me.

“Tch, you must be really stupid if you thought I’d start a fight I knew I wouldn’t win. This ‘weak woman’ is a devil fruit user with 6 years of experience and a bounty worth more than the both of you combined. So how about you say that again.” As I said that, I slowly shifted into my hybrid state, four arms unfurling from my back and extra sets of eyes opening and settling into a glare as coarse fur covered my face and shoulders.

“M _ **-Mon-ack**_!” One of them tried to yell, and the other dropped into a dead faint, only to have six palms slammed into his gut. I spun a web and webbed his entire face, cutting off his oxygen.

I looked at my spilt coffee in distaste before dumping the rest on the one who had fainted. I cut the transformation, turning back to Buggy. He was shaking like a leaf.

“Kid, you can open your eyes now. Can you tell me your name?” I crouched in front of him, and he blinked teary blue eyes at me.

“Bug..Buggy.” He said, and I let a soft smile cross my face.

“Alright Buggy, I’m Solaris. Can I touch you? I need- Woah, okay. This is fine.” Buggy had launched himself into my arms and started sobbing into my chest. My heart dropped when I saw his leg, swollen and very clearly broken, and not a clean break either from the looks of it.

“They were, they were gonna kil- gonna...gonna kil-“ he choked on the word, and I felt all my organs collectively decide to drop out my ass, and my blood froze.

“Okay, Buggy. I’m going to pick you up and I need to to keep your legs as still as possible. I’m going to take you to my ship and get you all fixed up. Is that okay with you?” I kept my voice gentle and low. He nodded into my neck.

I manoeuvred him so that I was holding him in a princess carry and slowly stood up. I stomped on the man I left alive, ignoring the squelch my foot made as I squished his head under my heel.

People gave me a wide berth as I walked down the road, and I’m not sure if it was because of my face or the blood and brain matter caked on my foot. Could have been both.

“Solaris, what’s going on? I could feel your fury- Oh shoot!” Sterling hissed when he saw Buggy, who had a look of pure terror on his face.

“Buggy, this is my twin brother. He’s a magic doctor, and he’s going to fix you up.” I pointed at him with my chin.

“There’s no such thing as magic.” He giggled, and though he was definitely still scared, it was an improvement.

Sterling caught on and grinned.

“Sure there is! I’ll show you once we get you on a table so I can get a good look at your injuries.” He smiled and Buggy giggled again. I smiled and walked onto the ship, heading straight for Sterling and I’s shared room. We didn’t have a table, so I put him on my bed, being careful to not jostle his leg.

Sterling crouched down and placed his hands on either side of the fracture, his hands glowing softly. I could see the bone moving under Buggy’s skin, and it only served to make me even more angry on his behalf. He worked for a while, and finally brought down as much of the swelling as he could.

Buggy’s eyes lit up as he looked at his leg in awe, before he made a jaw cracking yawn.

“I forgot that it takes a lot of energy to fix big things. Sorry Buggy. Take a nap and when you wake up, I’ll finish.” Sterling rubbed his head, creating a mess of blue hair. 

Buggy blinked tiredly at us. “Oh… Ok…. Can you stay with me?”

I smiled and nodded , pressing my forehead to his. He closed his eyes and laid down, and he was out like a light. I tucked him in and put my hat on his chest. A soft smile crossed my face before it fell and I had to cover my mouth to muffle the whimper that escaped.

I stood up abruptly and left the room, closing the door behind me. I walked a bit down the hall before I yelled and slammed my fist through the wall. I slid to my knees and covered my mouth as tears gathered in my eyes and my shoulders shook violently.

“He’s just, he’s just a baby!” I let out a high pitched whine as I pressed my head against the wall.

“Sol-chan? What’s wrong- Shit. Seagull, go get Captain. Now.” I was pulled into someone’s lap. The purple fabric bunched in my fist told me it was Rayleigh.

“He’s so ti- He’s just, he’s so fucking tiny and, and they tried… they tried to kill him! He’s just a baby, why, why would they-“ I hiccuped and sobbed into his shirt, and fingers scraped against my scalp in an attempt to calm me down.

“What happened, Sol?”

“I- I found a kid in, in the alley- alleyway and, and, and there were two adults bea-beating him up. They were, were gonna kill hi-him, and he wasn’t- he wasn’t tryna fight ba-aack! Whyy was-wasn’t he tryna fffight back?!” I cried.

“Where is he now?”

“In- He’s in our room.” I sniffled.

Rayleigh picked me up and carried me back to my room. He sat me on the bed next to Buggy.

“He’s right here, and he’s okay now. That’s all you have to worry about for now. You can worry later once he’s up and walking. You’ve done all you can for right now, so step back and let others help while you breathe.” Rayleigh put a hand on my shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

He left when Roger returned to explain the situation.

Sterling leaned his head against my back, and I took the time to compose myself, and by the time the kid woke up the only evidence of my breakdown was the scraped skin on my knuckles and dried tear trails on my cheeks.

After Sterling fixed up all the bruises, cuts, scrapes, and _broken fingers_ -how the fuck did I not notice those?!- Buggy grabbed my hand, smiling up at me.

Jesus, I know that I’m tall for my age but how the hell am I twice Buggy’s height?! Fuckin’ 5’9” 13 year old bullshit, that’s what this is. I’m gonna be taller than Roger if this shit keeps up.

“Hey Buggy? Do you have anyone waiting for you back home?” I asked even though I knew the answer, just from story context. Why would a kid join a pirate crew if he had a family? Unless Roger originally kidnapped him, which is highly unlikely.

Buggy’s hand tightened around my fingers, and I could hear my bones creaking.

“Don’t make me go back, I’ll do anything, just don’t leave me here!” Buggy babbled, and my heart broke. I scooped him up and placed him on my hip.

“I won’t make you do anything you don’t want to. I only asked because I was worried. If it makes you feel better, you can hold onto my neck. I have to talk to Captain, and I’ll do my best to get him to let you stay.” I smiled at him, and he wrapped his arms around my neck,tucking his head under my chin.

“What happens if he says no?”

“In the unlikely scenario that he says no, I’ll jump ship and we can be our own pirate crew. I’m not about to abandon you, kid. You’re mine now, my brother.” I said and opened the door. Sterling snickered.

“I think you mean our brother, Solaris. You know that we’re in this together as always, right?”

“Obviously.”

We walked down the hallways and up to the deck where Roger was talking to Rayleigh. He saw us and stopped what he was doing, giving us a giant grin and walking over to us.

“There you two are! Rayleigh told me what happened. This must be Buggy.” He bent down to our height and offered his hand to Buggy, who hesitated but took his finger because Jesus Christ, Roger’s hands are fucking huge. 

“Buggy, this is our Captain, Roger. Captain, we have a favour to ask.” Sterling said, and Roger got serious.

“Buggy has nowhere to go. The people here don’t care for him like they should, and I already killed two people to protect him.” I said.

“And you want him on our crew.” He said. I nodded and he sighed.

“God damn it, why do kids keep ending up on my crew because of terrible circumstances? You both know that I would never turn away a kid in need, but I only allow them on the crew if there is absolutely no other option. Buggy, do you have any family members on another island that we can drop you off with?” He asked. Buggy’s arms tightened around my neck, enough that I probably should have started struggling to breathe.

“The only family I know of is my father, but he skipped town when he found out about me. He disappeared.” Buggy said, and I squeezed him closer.

Roger swore and dragged a hand through his hair. Buggy and I both tensed.

“It’s not that I don’t want you on the crew Buggy, I just don’t like the circumstances. There is never a happy reason for a kid your age to be joining a pirate crew. I’m only willing to make you a cabin boy for now, but I’ll do my best to teach you everything I can.” He placed a hand on Buggy’s head, ruffling his hair.

“Welcome to the crew, kid.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tw for mentions of slavers and kidnapping, but it’s not very graphic and only like a few lines.

Sterling and I spent a week renovating our room to accommodate another person when we found Shanks. It was also not a happy circumstance.

We were on the open seas, and I was up in the crows nest when I spotted a wrecked merchant ship.

“Captain! There’s a wreck up ahead! Civilian ship, should we check it out?” I shouted down. Roger gave an affirmative and we changed course so that we’d come out right beside the wreck. I climbed down, running to the railing to search for survivors.

I spotted a red haired kid floating in the water, haphazardly sprawled across a piece of driftwood.

I went to yell for someone when my vision went dark and I went tumbling over the railing. I could hear someone shriek, and I felt all my energy drain as I hit the water, and then nothing.

The next time that I opened my eyes, I was in severe pain. My ribs felt broken, my lungs hurt like a bitch, and I felt utterly drained. Sterling was hovering over me, and once he saw my eyes were open, he heaved a sigh of relief and sat back.

I sat up and looked around. I was on the deck in a puddle of water, and I was soaked to the bone. The kid was also on the ground , a few feet away, and the whole crew was looking at us in concern. 

Sterling punched me in the back of the head.

**_“You idiot! Why would you jump into the ocean?! You know you can’t swim!”_ **

I blinked at him in confusion.

“I… didn’t jump? I was gonna say something and then I fell. The next thing I know, I’m here.” Sterling stared at me for a long while before he slammed his hands into his face and groaned.

“Great, I was hoping the narcolepsy wouldn’t hit us. Just what we needed. Now we’ll have to watch both us and Captain, because knowing our luck, I’m gonna turn out to be narcoleptic as well.” Sterling groaned, staring at the sky as if pleading for a miracle. 

Good luck buddy, let me know if it works.

All of the sudden I had a lap full of tiny 8 year old, and I wheezed as he jostled my ribs.

“Hey Buggy.” I poked him in the forehead.

“I thought you were gonna die. Don’t scare me like that again.” He muttered.

“Kid, in our profession, you know I can’t make any promises. But I’m sure that Sterling has me covered. If I do somehow die in his care, he’d probably fight God to get me back and  _ win _ .” Buggy giggled. However, I was completely serious. Sterling would fight Kaguya for me, and I would absolutely drop kick Hamura again for him. 

The red haired kid coughed and sputtered, drawing our attention. I looked at him, and yeah, that kid was definitely Shanks. Shit.

“Where am I?” He croaked and I winced.

“You’re on our ship. We just pulled you out of the wreckage, and it would help if you could tell us what happened.” Scopper said, and Shanks began to tell his tale.

I could feel everyone's horror grow as he told us of the people who took his family away, and how they thought he was dead so they left him.

“Kid, you are so damn lucky that they thought you were dead.” I said, and some of the crew glared at me.

“Those people were slavers. Solaris is right, you were damn lucky that you were left behind. And if I’m correct, your family is probably better off dead. Anyone taken from this area would only be sold to the highest bidders, Celestial Dragons. I’m sorry for your loss.” Roger bowed his head to the kid, and he looked utterly defeated.

As we are now, trying to save his parents would be suicide. Despite being the crew of the future Pirate King, we are not strong enough to take on any Admirals, and they’d probably sic Sengoku on our asses, knowing our luck.

Shanks looked like he was seconds from going into shock, probably actually already in shock if I’m being honest, so I gently pushed Buggy off and butt scooched my way over to him. I pulled him into my lap and wrapped myself around him, rubbing his arms gently. I started humming Bink’s Sake beside his ear and rocked back and forth, following the rolling of the waves beneath the ship.

As soon as he was shaking violently and felt significantly warmer, I went to pull my arms away, only to have him pull my arms closer.

“ _ Stay, please.” _

“Okay. I’m here.” And so I stayed, hugging yet another young boy after something horrible. And that’s how Shanks joined our crew.

Another horrible situation, another traumatized child.

We had to renovate our room again to accommodate Shanks, but I think it was perfect. Because while it was somewhat cramped, it felt perfect.

We spent another month in the Blues before our peaceful life changed yet again.

It was time for the Grandline.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the short chapter this time, and for the break.  
>  I write these chapters on paper first before editing them in Google docs, so it takes a while for me to actually transfer each chapter to docs.   
> And while I may have wrote 5 pages in my book, on docs it is sooooo much shorter, so I kind of have to guess just how long the chapter actually is.


	7. Chapter 7

We spent around 3 years in Paradise, just so that Buggy and Shanks could get used to the craziness, both from the Grand Line itself and from living with this crew in particular. 

It was during this time that we started to get targeted much more often. I suspect that in Whitebeard and Garp’s case, it was more for training than anything. Garp seemed to enjoy fighting Roger, but didn’t like the fact that he had taken us kids onto his ship. 

And seeing as how Garp had actually tried to kidnap us away at one point, Roger made sure to keep us away from any fights with the crazy marine.

Whitebeard didn’t come around as often as Garp or any smaller crews, but when he did, there were often huge parties thrown after.

Despite all of this, we had never actually participated in any fights with the famous crew, as Rayleigh and Scopper redirected anyone coming at us before we could even try. 

So when Roger finally gave us permission to fight, I was understandably both excited and terrified. There was an unspoken rule that killing was off the table, but it was always possible for there to be accidents or for someone to ignore the rule completely.

Like, I know it’s unlikely that anyone will try to actually kill any of us, or even succeed in Sterling and I’s case….. but even the thought is terrifying. I know exactly how this crew is going to be in the future, and seeing my tiny little brothers go up against them is scary.

Shanks had bodily thrown himself at his opponent, and I’m pretty sure Sterling was pulling people into the deck and leaving them there.

I had absolutely no idea who I was fighting, but he never showed up in the anime or manga so he probably doesn’t last long, not with how little regard he has for his surroundings.

I danced around attacks that I could see coming from a mile away. No doubt the fact that he couldn’t land a single hit irked him to no end, and he eventually gave in to his rage.

Living with Orochimaru for so long in another life teaches you things. Like how to ignore the fact that I have bones and joints, and how to move in ways that are probably breaching Uncanny Valley territory.

It’d probably be painful if my pain tolerance wasn’t ‘I regularly stab myself and break bones for funsies’.

So when I dislocated my shoulder and twisted in a way that probably broke several ribs in order to avoid getting a knife shoved through my arm, it wasn’t very unexpected for him to start screaming. 

“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU?!” He screamed and swung blindly, finally scoring a pretty solid hit to the side of my face.

I took a second to spit blood and ripped the few teeth he managed to knock loose out and grinned at the man as they grew back semi instantly.

“My crew are of the opinion that ‘Devil's Spawn’ is an apt description, but Captain just calls me a brat.” I smirked and transformed completely, scaring the shit out of everyone in our vicinity who had arachnophobia.

I cackled as I wrapped him in a web and hung him upside down from the mast.

Before I could go after anyone else, Buggy shrieked and threw himself onto my back. I turned to glare at whoever had scared my little brother when I felt him shaking and the fur- er, hair on my back grow wet. I hissed and ran for somewhere, anywhere that would be quiet and calm.

We ended up in a library that most definitely didn’t belong to us so that left Whitebeard’s ship. I did not care at the moment and instead shifted to hybrid form, moving Buggy to my front and using my extra arms to pull books off the shelves.

I plopped us down in the giant ass chair, no doubt belonging to Newgate himself, and started reading out loud the books that I had chosen. Many of them were quite boring to me, but they were ones that I knew Buggy would enjoy.

We must have been there for much longer than we thought, because the door swung open and in a panic, I nailed Roger in the face with a book thicker than my arm. He looked stunned, staring at the book with a flabbergasted look on his face.

I stared at him for a full minute before the silence broke.

“Gurarara! Your brat has one hell of an arm, Roger.” I stared up at the giant of a man towering over us. Normally, I would be very much terrified. However, I also just knocked my father figure on his ass with a book of all things so I think I had much more pressing matters to deal with.

“Dad! Are you oka-“ Of course, my body had other plans and just shut down as I made to get up.

The next time I woke up, I was in an infirmary with Shanks, who had tucked himself against my side and had his head resting on my chest, right over my heart. 

At that point, I was just exhausted so I pulled Shanks closer and prepared to go back to sleep.

“You’ve only got so long, Roger. You can’t keep putting this off, you need to tell them. And soon, before they find out after you collapse.” My blood froze.

No.

_ No. _

I thought we’d have more time, we were supposed to have more time! _ You can’t do this- _

“I  _ know,  _ Rayleigh! But how the hell am I supposed to tell my kids that  _ I’m dying!?” _ Roger snapped.

“ _ Da-ad?” _


	8. Chapter 8

Dad decided that the only doctor he would accept on his crew was Crocus, and well…….

“Join my crew!”

“Why the  **hell** would I do that?! I already told you no!”

This has been going on for 2 hours. The crew has started betting on when Crocus will give up and just join us already.

I was lying on the rocks, basking on the sun-heated ground like a cat, when I heard it.

“Come back! I’m still here, I miss you!”

That…. was not a voice I recognized, nor was it human. 

I sat up and squinted in the general direction of where I could hear the voice coming from.

“I want to sing with you guys again! When are you coming back?”

It can’t be….. But that’s impossible, that would mean that….

I concentrated, not straining to hear anything but instead blocking out the noise that the crew was making. I sat there for a few minutes, just listening to the world. Eventually, I started to hear whispers. I couldn’t tell what they were saying, but I counted it as a win. You can’t force something to speak to you if it doesn’t want to, and even more so if what you want to hear is the entire goddamn world.

It seems that that mindset is what they wanted, because as soon as that thought crossed my mind, my head exploded with noise.

**_SunSeaStarsFatePastAirEarthDeadtoomuchTOOLOUD-_ **

‘ _ Oh. Hello, little one.’ _

I almost shrieked when the air itself decided to speak to me.

I could  _ feel  _ the curiosity of the wind as it twisted around me, brushing my cheeks and messing up my hair.

Now, let me tell you this. Having something as _utterly_ **_ancient_** as the air being so curious about you is no small feat. And that is uniquely terrifying in its own way. 

That’s coming from someone who was handpicked by Jashin, god of fear, slaughter, and just…. a lot of horrible things over all. My god may be.... ‘kind’ to his followers, but I have no delusions about just how terrifying he is. 

“Hello…” I breathed, in awe at how loud and full of life the world around me suddenly was, and also in a little bit of reverent fear. 

Before any more could be said, another heartbreaking cry came from the water. I stood up and followed the cries until I came to a small area hidden by the cliffs.

“Hello? I could hear you crying, and I wanted to know if there’s anything I can do?” I called out gently to the submerged whale. I sat down, putting my legs in the water even as all my strength was sapped by the cold water.

“I miss them! I want to sing with them again.” Laboon cried.

“Oh darling, I’m sure they miss you too. Your name is Laboon, right?” I asked, and the baby island whale surfaced, staring at me with one teary eye.

“You can understand me?” He asked, and I nodded.

“I may not be your crew, but I can still sing with you if that will make you feel better?” I smiled gently at the baby, and the tears spilled from his eye like a mini waterfall.

“ _ Yo-hohoho, Yo-hoho-ho. Yo-hohoho, Yo-hoho-ho. Yo-hohoho, Yo-hoho-ho. Yo-hohoho, Yo-hoho-ho. _ ” I started out softly.

“ _ Gather up all of the crew! It's time to ship out Bink's brew! Sea wind blows, To where? Who knows? The waves will be our guide! O'er across the ocean's tide, rays of sunshine far and wide, Birds they sing of cheerful things, in circles passing by! _ ” I sang the jaunty little shanty a bit louder, encouraging the baby whale to sing along with me.

“ _ Bid farewell to weaver's town! Say so long to port renowned! Sing a song, it won't be long, before we're casting off! Cross the gold and silver seas, the salty spray puts us at ease! Day and night to our delight, The voyage never ends _ !” Laboon chirped a bit, starting to sing along. I smiled widely.

“ _ Gather up all of the crew! It's time to ship out Bink's brew! Pirates we, eternally are challenging the sea! With the waves to rest our heads, ship beneath us as our beds! Hoisted high upon the mast our Jolly Roger flies! Somewhere in the endless sky, Stormy winds are blowin' by! Waves are dancing, evening comes, It's time to sound the drums!But steady men may never fear, Tomorrow's skies are always clear! So pound your feet and clap your hands till sunny days return! _ ” Laboon sung along with me, his voice full of longing and cheer.

I repeated the song a few times, and by the time the crew found me, Laboon’s head was on top of me as I wheezed out the lyrics in between my giggles. 

Laboon is a hell of a lot smaller than he would be in the future, but he is still a whale and I am slowly being crushed under the enthusiastic baby, but a crushed fin and ribs are small prices to pay if it means seeing Laboon happy and singing. 

“Looks like you’ve made yourself a new friend, Sunshine.” I tilted my head back to grin at Scopper.

“Ye-yeah! This is Labo-oon!” I wheezed, patting Laboon’s head.

“Alri-ight, buddy. Ya gotta get offa me now. My ribs a-are starting ta give.” I squirmed, and the whale chirped happily before rolling off of me and back into the water. 

“Solaris!” Shanks threw himself at me when I stood up, and I swung him around before putting him back down. I kissed his forehead and he gave me a sunny smile.

“Is this your pod?” Laboon asked, and I turned to him. I opened my mouth to answer, but paused to think.

“Huh….. Yeah, they are. They’re my pod like Brook, Yorkie, Crocus and the rest of the Rumbar Pirates are your pod.” I finally said. 

Everyone stared at me.

“Solaris….. What was that?” Erio cautiously asked. Crocus stared at me, gaping like a fish.

“Where did you learn those names?” He asked, and I looked at him.

“The Ocean told me. You can’t hear her?” I tilted my head in mock confusion, hiding a smile as the world around me roared with laughter and amusement. 

Roger cackled at the looks on everyone’s faces.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, Solaris and Sterling do have fins, but I never actually mentioned this before because it’s a lot smaller than usual, and it’s something that they wouldn’t comment on that much.  
>  The crew wouldn’t have mentioned the fins because Roger explained at some point that they are part fishman.   
> The reason the fins are much smaller is because of how diluted the fishman part of their blood is, seeing as the first fishman in their family was their paternal great-grandfather.   
> Also, fun fact! The type of fishman they are is Great Barracuda. If they had more fishman in their blood, they would have had grey and black striped skin!


	9. Chapter 9

It’s been 2 months, and we have a problem.

Crocus fell seamlessly into our crews dynamic, as if he had always been a part of the crew.

That wasn’t the problem.

The problem is that Dad has a crush and isn’t dealing very well, nor does he know how to properly express himself.

“God dAMN IT! SHE’S OUTDONE ME AGAIN!” 

Aaaaand this is how most of our adventures these past weeks have started. Because our idiot captain keeps on trying to outdo Rouge. 

Who hadn’t been a pirate in the manga, but then again we were never given a background for miss Portgas D. Rouge so what the fuck do I know.

“Christ, Dad. The last time you said that, we ended up in the sky. Not that that wasn’t fun, but I’d rather not do something even crazier if that’s okay with you.” Sterling said, and Shanks slapped him playfully.

“We got a new crew mate because of that trip! Apologize to Alan-OOF!” I thunked him on the head, grinning.

“Alana is a strong, independent woman and doesn’t need you to defend her. She can do that herself, right ‘Lana?” I looked at the blonde swordswoman, who was fiddling with the dials attached to the hilt of her sabre.

She smiled and sent me two thumbs up, before letting out a soundless yelp when one of the dials misfired and blew up in her face. She stared at the dial in surprise before a silent bout of laughter shook her body, wings fluttering in delight.

“See? Don’t be a dolt, Shanks. Oh yeah, Buggy wanted me to let you know that he’s ready for those lessons anytime you are, Alana!” I told her, and she gave me what could only be called a feral grin.

‘Teach Buggy, bombs help.’ She signed in the little Uzu sign that she had picked up from us. Of course, she has her native sign as well, but we’re working on teaching each other as well as the rest of the crew and practice makes perfect.

She ran off, leaving a few singed feathers in her wake.

Apparently, no one was keeping an eye on Dad, because within two hours we were docked at Water 7.

Which can only mean one thing.

Now don’t get me wrong, I am excited to finally be able to see the famous Oro Jackson in all her glory, but the Burning Rose has been my home for years and I don’t want to replace her. I know it’s probably for the best because Burning is getting old and repairs are taking longer and longer to complete….. but I don’t want to say goodbye.

I could feel the potential power that was housed on the island, but only because it was practically shouting it’s presence at me. I hushed it, telling it to keep itself hidden.

I jumped off the ship, only for Sterling to catch me before I could land. I just huffed and rolled my eyes.

Once I was on my feet, Sterling turned to Dad.

“We’re gonna go exploring. Don’t get lost.” He teased and Dad sputtered indignantly.

I grasped Sterling’s hand and waved goodbye to Dad, pretending that I didn’t notice the two kids following us.

I ended up dragging Sterling around aimlessly from store to store, until I heard Shanks snicker at my twin's misfortune. 

I turned and snatched the redhead from the stall he was hiding behind and trapped him in a headlock, giving him a rough noogie.

“ **_WHAT’RE YOU DOING?!_ ** ” I bellowed with false anger as Shanks laughed loudly, squealing as I attacked his sides with nimble fingers.

“ **_STAH-AH-AHP! SOL I CAN- CAN’T BRE-RE-REATHE!_ ** ” He squirmed,face as red as his hair from laughing so hard.

“Sol, let him breathe.” Sterling jabbed my cheek and I snapped my jaws at the offending appendage. He yelped and pulled his hand away before I could take his finger off.

I relented and instead swung the mess of a kid up onto my shoulders, not caring when he grabbed fistfuls of my hair to steady himself.

“Oh how sweet! Your parents must be so proud.” An elderly couple cooed at us. Shanks’ grip on my hair tightened and I winced.

“I hope they are.” I plastered a smile on my face and hurried away. 

I know it’s not their fault that they hit a sore spot, but I’m more concerned about my little brother than some random old people.

I did smile to myself though, when I caught sight of blue hair and goggles before the owner hid behind a crate. His hair was peeking out over the top. 

Sterling winked at me before letting out an over exaggerated sigh.

“I promised Buggy and Alana that I’d find some more scrap metal for their bombs, but there’s nothing good that they can use and I have no idea where to look. Guess I’ll have to go home empty handed….” 

“I can help!” Franky blurted, stepping into the middle of the alleyway.

“Ah, so you finally came out. Brat.” I smirked and Shanks giggled.

“Wha- YOU KNEW I WAS HERE?!!” He pointed accusingly at us.

“You weren’t exactly stealthy.” 

“Yeah, we were kind of just waiting for you to give yourself away. Nobody would follow a couple of teenagers around an entire island unless they want something, so we assumed you had questions or something.” Sterling shrugged.

Shanks leaned forward, over my head and almost choking me with his legs, and extended his hand out to the new kid. I crouched so that he wouldn’t fall.

“Hi! I’m Shanks, what’s your name?” Franky shook his hand, smiling widely.

“I’m Franky!” 

“Cool! You’re our brother now.” Shanks stated and I choked.

“Excuse me, wh-what?” I sputtered and he looked down at me like I was stupid.

“That’s what you did with me and Buggy. Is that not how that works?”

I decided to just go with it. 

No, I won’t tell my darling little brother that he’s wrong. Can you imagine the face he’d make? I don’t need a guilty conscience, thank you very much.

Franky did end up showing us all the best places to find quality scrap, and once we had a pretty decent haul he excitedly showed us the current Battle Franky.

Shanks was all over it.

“WOAH THIS IS SO COOL!”

“HOW DID YOU MAKE THIS?”

“HOW DOES THAT WORK?”

Questions flew from his mouth like bullets from a machine gun. 

I could feel just how proud Franky was of his inventions, and how happy he was to have someone be interested in them.

“You have to meet our Captain! He’ll think you’re so cool!” Shanks grabbed Franky’s hand and started to drag him off.

I went to follow them when something caught my eye.

I stopped in front of a board that had multiple wanted posters plastered all over it. Most of them were old, but the ones that had caught my eye could only have been a week old, two weeks tops.

Gold Roger, which would undoubtedly piss off Dad to no end, but also our own wanted posters. Our pictures had been updated, and we have epithets now! 

I ripped all three down and followed the boys, catching Sterling as he passed out and heaving him up over my shoulder. When we found Dad, he was talking with Tom.

“Tom!”

“Captain!”

“Dad! New bounties!” I beat both of the kids to the grownups and shoved both the papers and my twin into Dad’s arms. He adjusted Sterling into a much more comfortable position as he scowled and grumbled over the marines getting his name wrong, and then his face lit up with joy when he saw ours.

“ ‘Sun Spider’ Solaris and ‘Wood Imp’ Sterling! This is great, and such a high bounty for someone your age too!” He pointed at the numbers and my jaw dropped.

“ **_333,000,000?!”_ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know Oden, Toki, Nekomamushi, and Inuarashi were supposed to be on the ship before they went to Sky Island, but with the twins unknowingly changing events, they show up a bit later. And it will be soon, I have a reason for wanting the twins to be familiar with mink customs and culture, and those two need to be the ones to teach them.
> 
> And a new oc! Given where she’s from, I bet you can guess who she is.


End file.
